Maintenance Issue

Diablosi05 · Post by **Diablosi05** » Tue Dec 15, 2009 9:03 pm

I have a maintenance question. I bought a Buddy Scooter a couple of months ago and really like it. I took it to the dealership at 500 miles like I was advised to for the 1st service. That cost $140. I really want to avoid that cost for the next few services. What kind of maintenance can an inexperienced and not mechanically inclined scooter owner do to keep running sharp without paying the ridiculous fees at the dealership?

Skootz Kabootz · Post by **Skootz Kabootz** » Tue Dec 15, 2009 9:41 pm

Is is just me or is that really expensive for a first service? First service is just an oil change and inspection if I remember correctly... no?

broke · Post by **broke** » Tue Dec 15, 2009 10:01 pm

not this thread again

(j/k. although there is already a lot of opinion posted on this topic...)

FWIW: I haven't had my dealer do any services on my bike and it's running great for me. However, I only have 6,000 miles on it and I did lots of research and learned how to change motor oil, gear oil, adjust valve clearances, tighten braided cables, grease latches and bearings, clean out air filters, clean out CVT, replace rollers, remove wheels, etc... If I had to pay $1 for every hour I spent on Modern Buddy, it would be MUCH cheaper for me to have my dealer care for my bike.

jijifer · Post by **jijifer** » Tue Dec 15, 2009 11:55 pm

so that's about 1.5 hours of labor and parts. My local shop just did a workshop on how to take apart the transmission, variator, change the belt, rollers AND how to change oils and filters.

The take away was "that is why we pay YOU to do it".

It's a very precise thing. For instance, we learned that while the Buddy manual says .9L of oil, that's the spec for shipping it and running it the first 500miles. After that you should only be putting in .85L. I'm not sure anyone but the mechanics knew that. Overfilling your oil will cause anything from performance issues to dangerous oil leaking on your back tire to screwing up your transmission.

The gear oil was put in with a large syringe that shop attached a tube too. It's measurement is even more precise.

Every bolt and screw needs to be tightened to a specific (and different) pressure such that a cheapo impact wrench may cause more harm than good. And over hand-tightening either oil cap/bolt will put you out of commission while you a) get a new one or b) pay to get the hole rethreaded. Both scenarios have been encountered by DIYs here.

The oil filters have spun off by DIYs here, too, and ruined engines.

So yes, if you want to become savvy and invest in lots of tools and have lots of time then you can do this yourself. Otherwise, it's a good idea to make friendly with your shop guys because you'll need them every 1k to 2k miles or so.

I'm racking up miles faster than the average rider so this is way more costly than running my car was. The savings in gas has not offset the cost of maintaining my scoot properly for the miles I put on her. But she's my only ride now so she's worth every penny to be maintained professionally.

This is a pretty precise machine such that lackadaisical interest in mechanics will likely result in more harm than good.

bluebuddygirl · Post by **bluebuddygirl** » Wed Dec 16, 2009 1:12 am

That first service is an important and thorough service. They need to check that everything is still where it should be. Bolts are checked, your oil is inspected, and so on. That is more than I paid, but it does vary from shop to shop, and shop prices are not cheap anywhere. You don't have to have a thorough inspection done with every oil change, but there are certain mile markers where if you are not an experienced mechanic, you should have the dealer do, for peace of mind and the safe keeping of your warranty. Go by your manual for those. There is a lot of work that you can do with some minimal skills, but there is always a risk. I change my own oil, typically, and gear oil. I got a high five from a few motorcycle guys when my husband bragged about me checking my valve clearance, but I was very grateful that the measurement was dead on because I don't know if I was up to adjusting it.

I have done a bit of work on my own cars, out of necessity, and I am very mechanically inclined and I have A LOT of tools (I am a sculptor), so picking up a few skills with the scooter is doable, but as has already been stated you don't want to cheap out on tools as they are guaranteed to fail when the bike is already pulled apart and now you have to tow it to the dealer.

There are plenty of how to's on the site. Spend some time looking them over and decide what you feel comfortable with. Take the torque settings seriously, and read up where people have had difficulty (such as the oil filter spin off which has happened to a few people here who did it themselves) One step at a time, make sure you have everything you need before you start, and go from there.

Personally I think cycle motors are a great way to learn about how a basic gasoline engine works. One carb, fairly easy access to the engine and its parts, but make sure you have other transport just in case.

Skootz Kabootz · Post by **Skootz Kabootz** » Wed Dec 16, 2009 1:53 am

For what it's worth, one of the things that gives me great peace of mind when riding is knowing I have a great mechanic who looks after my scooter and that everything is safe, sound, and as it should be. I like learning and one day may like to start to doing some minor maintenance on my scooter myself, but until that day, my peace of mind is worth every penny spent.

bluebuddygirl · Post by **bluebuddygirl** » Wed Dec 16, 2009 2:04 am

Skootz Kabootz wrote:For what it's worth, one of the things that gives me great peace of mind when riding is knowing I have a great mechanic who looks after my scooter and that everything is safe, sound, and as it should be. I like learning and one day may like to start to doing some minor maintenance on my scooter myself, but until that day, my peace of mind is worth every penny spent.

I agree, but sometimes you just can't afford to have someone else do it. I am not just a teacher, I am a part-time teacher so I often fall into that category. A lot of what I learned how to do on my car came out of those same situations. You just have to know your limitations. Understand what you are going to do before you do it. If you don't, then for everyone's sake pay someone else to do it.

I am lucky, I have POC not far from here. I have a Buddy dealer in town if I can't get to POC. I have another dealer 1 mile from where I work (although I am less sure of them) and I have a truck and a portable ramp when I need to haul rather than drive the scooter. All bases are covered. Oh yes, and I have all of you wonderful folks who have provided and will provide advice as needed.

Post by **ericalm** » Wed Dec 16, 2009 7:11 am

The first service has to be done by a dealer.

It's a good idea to have the dealer do the "big" service every 4K or so after that.

But for the intermediate ones, doing oil changes is actually very easy. I'm not a mechanically-inclined person (despite trying on occasion) and I do all my own oil changes. There are several threads here about which tools to use and how to do them.